Posts

It’s hard to believe my first year of the AMC program is coming to a close. I’ve learned so much about blogging this year and I’ve grown as a writer. However I’ve also learned a lot about myself in the process.

And I have a confession to make. I’m a perfectionist. But it’s more complicated than that…

One of my biggest learning moments this semester came after talking with a friend. That’s when I started to really understand perseveration.

Blogging has been a challenge for me. I’m a terrible self-editor. And all of this has led me to my biggest takeaway from blogging this year – just write.

Hitting that publish button is HARD for me. My brain can find a million reasons why my work isn’t good enough and I’ll probably forgot something important and it’s probably stupid anyway and what if what if what if…

I’ve had to force myself to write this year. Sometimes it’s an uncomfortable process, but I think there’s a lot of value in that. Writing for a global audience still feels weird. But I’ve met some incredible people in the short time I’ve been blogging here.

Now that I’m officially on vacation I hope to devote more time to growing this blog and writing about whatever interests me instead of what I have to write about.

As I’ve progressed through school, I’ve become increasingly concerned with the effects of technology, and the ethics involved in its use.

As marketers, we have more data at our fingertips than ever before. We can highly target specific individuals, and have the technology with machine learning to make strong predictions about people’s inner selves and what will drive consumer behaviour.

But should we?

And do we have an ethical responsibility when it comes to how we target consumers?

This podcast by Sam Harris, with guest Zeynep Tufekci, on persuasion and control really solidified my feelings about how we currently collect and use data to influence people.

Intention Matters

I do not think persuasion is inherently bad. I believe we have the power to use persuasion for good, and an ethical duty to explore our methods and intentions when we attempt to direct behaviour.

I’m not comfortable with the idea of targeting people’s deepest vulnerabilities. I believe there’s a better way.

Since beginning to explore this topic, I’ve been thinking about how little control we have over our own data collected by others. I’m increasingly in favour of consumers having access to – and being able to control what data is and isn’t available to brands.

I have no illusions of privacy, and I can’t say this has swayed me to change my online habits much. What I can say, is that it’s inspired me to keep digging into the ethics of digital, and to support companies that follow suit.

So what do you think?

Is there a difference between persuasion and control? And how do you feel about the data collected on you being used?

This week Unilever called Facebook and Google “toxic to children”, threatening to pull all advertising from the platforms unless they address their issues with transparency and ethically questionable content.

This is a bold move from a brand like Unilever, who currently spend 9.8 billion dollars a year on advertising; A quarter of which is spent on digital ads. But like all good stories, as I started digging, what started out as a brand vs platform war quickly became a small piece of a much bigger picture.

Keith Weed, Unilever’s Chief Marketing Officer made many compelling arguments in his speech. However, this quote is what I found most compelling :

I had the pleasure of listening to Elamin Abdelmahmoud, the social media editor for BuzzFeed Canada speak at Queen’s University recently. I expected to be entertained but instead came away with many deep thoughts about our digital culture.

He posed an interesting question to the audience – If you were in the midst of a revolution would you know it? And as I walked out of the ARC that night I was certain that we were. And also certain that I had no idea what I was in the middle of.

Our digital landscape is on the precipice of a revolutionary change. Trust in digital media is low – currently less than half of Canadians trust digital media. We’re constantly connected, and bombarded, and yet in many ways, we’re more disconnected than ever.

Technology has developed at a lightning pace. For a long time, we were so focused on innovation that we weren’t taking note of the monster we’ve created. We didn’t see the revolution happening around us.

I grew up alongside our digital world. I remember a time without it, and can’t imagine living without it. And that’s messed up.

We’ve messed up.

I don’t think we’ll all be tossing our smartphones in a dumpster, however, I do feel like maybe we’re finally ready to put the humanity back in the internet.

I might also be delusional.

So where do we go from here? I honestly don’t know. But I’m paying attention now. And I hope you are too.

I was that kid that would pull the Band-aid off reeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaally slowly.

And I guess that hasn’t changed much since it took me three posts to write a real intro. Or you know – share this link with more than a few outside of my faculty when I have to hand in post assignments.

If I’m honest, blogging makes me uncomfortable. I love writing, and sharing and connecting with others. I’ve enjoyed blogging in the past and was excited when I realized we’d be doing more blog assignments in our program this term. But there’s something about writing for an audience that makes me feel pressured and anxious.

Why blog, anyway?

That said, almost half of people reading blogs admit to just skimming them – so it’s important to know how to craft a good post that will catch your reader’s attention.

Blogging 101

As we’ve been learning in class, there are a few simple things that can take your blog to the next level so people want to keep reading.

Hook ’em when it counts!

Posts are a lot like people and first impressions matter. You want to have an engaging title that draws your reader in. And good content that will reel them in and keep them coming back for more.

Keep It Simple… Structure

No one wants to read a wall of text. Make it easy for them:

Keep paragraphs short

Use headings, subheadings,

Use lists and bullets where appropriate

Your writing should be concise, scannable, and make good use of structure and imagery/other media to add visual interest.

Be human

But most of all, be yourself. While you want to keep it professional (I try to imagine my grandma is my biggest reader – hi grandma!) it doesn’t have to be dull. Breathe some life into your writing, and show off your personality. Tell stories. A blog that can make me feel something usually keeps my attention.

So what about you?

Do you read blogs? Or maybe write one? I’d love to know some of your favourite blogs, and what you think makes them worth reading.